Cork brand Rebel Chilli spices up the food market

Paul Moore

and his brother Ken started

Rebel Chilli

while Paul was studying at UCC. With a love of hot food and passion for good flavour they developed a range of chilli sauces, something no one was doing in Cork at the time.

“It started with a lot of trial and error over a number of days. Numerous first batches were not great then finally we settled on a recipe that was both good enough and different enough than anything else on the market. We started with one product which was the red sweet chilli, from that product we developed four others.”

“We started off as a farmers’ market business selling week to week.”

“Our mantra is that our sauces have real heat but really good flavour too, the heat will never overpower the flavour. People can be a bit slow to taste sauces for fear of getting their mouths burned but we have a good way of getting the right sauce for the right person.”

Once Paul graduated with a degree in business information systems from UCC he took over the business full-time. Ken, who is a quantity surveyor, has left the business, his only attachment to the company is an emotional one.

Since launching in October 2014 Rebel Chilli has gained both a national and international market.

“We have just over 200 retail outlets in Ireland. At the end of January we began exporting to Dubai, it is now in 50 supermarket stores there. We will be adding Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Kuwait and Malaysia in the coming months.”

“There is a large market for high-quality western products in UAE. An Irish exporter spotted our products, liked them and decided to take us on board. There are a lot of expats over there who have a desire for these kind of products.

“It is difficult but I love it, I am my own boss. I am doing something completely different than I would have been doing with my degree. I would have had a 9-5 office job, with this I have a lot more freedom. There is a lot more work but it’s moving, it’s exciting work and I get to travel. I’ll be going to the UK expos and it opens up lots more opportunities.”

Rebel Chilli is expanding its online availability to the UK and mainland Europe in the coming weeks

“The long-term plan is to grow Rebel Chilli to be one of the leading food brands. One of my visions is seeing Rebel Chilli sitting on every kitchen table. You’ll have your bottle of mayonnaise, bottle of ketchup and you’ll have your bottle of Rebel Chilli.

“I want to get more bars, restaurants and cafes using Rebel chilli as well.”